Tulane football players practice hard for new head coach Curtis Johnson

The opening phase of Tulane's first spring football practice under
its new coach was supposed to be a walkthrough, little more than a brisk
jog as players went about the business of figuring out where they were
supposed to be and what they were supposed to be doing. Except the
players pretty much ignored the jogging part.

John McCusker / The Times-PicayuneCornerback Alex Lauricella and linebacker Dominique Robertson talk with new head coach Curtis Johnson. Johnson and his staff began installing his system on Wednesday, the first of 15 days of spring training.

Coach Curtis Johnson
wanted his team to throttle back, and it was having none of it early
Wednesday morning. But Johnson, who smiled and laughed about the
development, didn't exactly push the issue.

"You didn't know what
Coach expected," rising senior linebacker Trent Mackey said. "He talked
to us, told us that it was a walkthrough period, just jog through it.

"But the offense had a fast pace. And on defense, we picked up the pace to match theirs."

And
before you knew it, game-like contact had been meted out a few times by
players who were wearing shorts, jerseys and helmets, making the smacks
look more vicious than they would've in full pads, and a couple of
diving attempts at pass receptions had been made for good measure.

Trust that, like Johnson, no one else had a problem with Tulane players exhibiting a touch of urgency.

No. 1, it's always a smart move to try to look your best for the new coach and a first impression often is a lasting one.

And
No. 2, Johnson already has made it clear that Tulane, which hasn't had a
winning record since 2002, isn't good enough to plan on having
redshirts. So if the returning players want to hold off the charge of
the incoming freshman class for playing time, they have to take
advantage of all the opportunities they'll receive during spring
practice.

"This won't be a redshirt program," Johnson said.

Rather, the hope is that it'll be a program on red alert.

Yes,
it's understood that a honeymoon period must be extended to Johnson and
his staff. While it's a nice thought, this likely isn't a Bowden-like,
water-to-wine situation, where the first-year coach is going to walk in
and, using players who might have been a tad undercoached or misused by
the previous staff, unleash upon opponents an offense for which they are
glaringly and embarrassingly unprepared.

But just because it won't be an overnight fix doesn't mean anyone should be allowed to feel comfortable, either.

Wednesday, Green Wave players looked anything but.

Johnson
said he arrived early at school and walked past the team's meeting room
45 minutes before the scheduled sessions. Players already were in the
room, he said.

"He wants to win games," Mackey said. "He's going
to demand our best, from class to meetings to workouts to reps. It's a
lot different. The speed of practice, tempo ... I think we're trying to
be perfect. If we mess up, we start that rep over."

Said Johnson: "I've got to (be demanding), every year. I've never let up. I think they want that."

They pretty much are starving for anything that produces wins.

Seniors
who redshirted a season have an 11-38 record at Tulane during their
tenure. The program hasn't won five games in a season since 2004.